As is known, some integrated electronic devices comprise circuit parts which, albeit co-operating together, operate with different voltage levels and hence must be supplied separately. In this connection, in various integrated electronic devices, such as voltage-boosting devices used in storage devices, converter devices, power-supply devices and the like, high-voltage bidirectional switches are used that transfer voltages higher than the supply voltage between the various circuit parts that make up these devices. High-voltage bidirectional switches are also used to transfer charge between high-voltage capacitors.
According to a known solution described in the patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,847, in order to produce a high-voltage bidirectional switch the use of a pair of depletion MOS transistors is envisaged, said transistors having their respective source terminals connected together and their respective gate terminals connected together. The bidirectional switch thus made conducts when the voltage present between the common gate terminal and the common source terminal of the pair of MOS transistors is higher than the pinch-off voltage of the channel regions of the transistors themselves.
However, this known solution presents the drawback that it is somewhat complex to implement, and hence costly.
Also known are high-voltage bidirectional switches made using voltage-level translator devices.
Also this known solution presents disadvantages in that voltage-level translator devices have a high degree of dissipation in dynamic state.